Goodness gracious, where did the first nine months of the year go? I must have slept through it all because I barely remember the summer. Before you know it, Christmas decorations will be gracing the shelves (if they're not already there) and we'll be running into rooms yelling "Five golden rings" at the top of our lungs. Like a lot of folks, Halloween is my favorite holiday, and where better to shop for costume discounts than online? BuyCostumes is one of the largest and most comprehensive stores I've stumbled over and has goodies for revelers of all ages. And accessories, makeup and so forth. Or, if you plan to buy locally, this site will give you the scoop on what's available this year.

Gag order

www.Microsoft.com/frontpage/

Who reads software licenses? Apart from language lawyers, almost certainly not you and me. While we were clicking the Accept License button with wild abandon, Microsoft slipped an interesting clause into the very latest version of that ever-popular HTML editing program FrontPage. Apart from not being able to use it to forward views on racism, hatred or pornography, one can't "use the software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia or their products or services." How the software giant plans to enforce this should be quite interesting.

Dot-yawn

www.Afilias.info

Yes, that Web address above ends in dot-info. Not the dot-com, -org or -net that you are well used to. And, for the most part, nobody really cares. Dot-com is on the forefront of everybody's mind thanks to the wild ride we've had in the past few years. The clumsily monikered dot-name ("jane.public.name" for instance) is next and intended for little people to stake the claim in the Web address universe. And that looks to be another big yawner, too. It's a shame the dot-us addresses are too large and clumsy to be usable so I guess we'll just have to be armed with creativity and continue to mine what's left in the dot-com space.

I'll show you mine . . .

www.DeskSwap.com

While all the great domain names might be gone, the odd ideas continue to sprout. Here's a nifty one for home use, but I'm sure this will drive system administrators at corporate sites up the wall. Just before this screen saver kicks in, it takes a snap of your desktop and uploads it to a server. Then it randomly downloads other screens and shows them to you as fodder for the screen saver. Windows only, of course. Not good if you work on even moderately sensitive information but quite fun for others.

Ugl-E-Boy

www.SureFit.net/ugly_semi.cfm

I've never been so disgusted yet excited in all my life. Not strictly true, but you get the idea. Here you'll find a collection of what would grace my living room if She Who Must Be Obeyed didn't have a wealth of extraordinary good taste. In the living room department, mostly. Perhaps the best ugly couch is owned by Giovanni Chavez: a thronelike seat with what looks like red plush velvet as a border accent. It would make Austin Powers proud.

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